Legal professional Normal Letitia James led a coalition Tuesday calling on Congress to ban ICE brokers from sporting masks.
REUTERS/Pleasure Malone
State Legal professional Normal Letitia James on Tuesday led a nationwide coalition of 21 attorneys common calling on Congress to go laws banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers from sporting masks to hide their identities and requiring them to “clearly identify themselves and their agency during civil enforcement actions.”
The Tuesday letter, which the attorneys common despatched to all members of Congress, James and her friends raised concern with “ICE’s opaque conduct” in current weeks, referring to the spike in immigration raids by masked brokers, a lot of which have taken place in New York Metropolis.
“The images of masked, armed men and women, dressed in plainclothes and traveling in unmarked vehicles, snatching people from streets, homes, workplaces, and courthouses has become common in recent weeks and are now emblazoned in the public consciousness,” the attorneys common wrote. “We have watched these detentions with alarm, as the imagery evokes comparisons to repressive tactics that have no place in a free country.”
Masked ICE brokers spark alarm
Masked ICE brokers arrest a person at 26 Federal Plaza in Decrease Manhattan on July 8, 2025.Photograph by Dean Moses
Native elected officers and a number of other members of Congress have sounded the alarm over the current spike in aggressive ICE techniques.
In New York Metropolis, ICE brokers have carried out frequent raids at immigration courthouses, arresting people leaving routine hearings and separating households. ICE arrested Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander at 26 Federal Plaza final month as he was observing immigration proceedings as a “friend of the court” and trying to escort a person out of the constructing.
The letter involves Congress as state politicians push laws to carry ICE officers to higher accountability with the MELT ICE invoice and argues that the sporting of identity-concealing masks by ICE brokers “limits the ability of individuals to challenge unlawful government acts, stripping our citizens of their basic rights to hold government actors accountable.”
The attorneys common additionally increase considerations with a possible “vigilante problem” arising from the tactic.
“Individuals who are unsure whether they are being detained by legitimate law enforcement or are being kidnapped may understandably choose not to obey commands and instead resist law enforcement efforts,” the letter reads. “These tactics have also reportedly given rise to horrific incidents of impersonation of officers, where individuals seeking to extort or do harm have posed as immigration officials to victimize others.”
The attorneys common, urging members of the Home and the Senate to prioritize laws banning such identity-concealing techniques, wrote that “if the federal authorities are confident that their practices are lawful and just, they should not fear identifying themselves.”
“This Administration is willing to tout its arrests and tactics in press releases, social media posts, and speeches, but refuses to take ownership or accountability for their policies on the ground in our communities,” the letter reads. “As a routine practice, this is inconsistent with democratic values and the rule of law.”
The letter can also be signed by the attorneys common of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
